Skin is the largest organ of the human body. It serves as a critical barrier to invasion by microbes, while at the same time providing a major home to them. Skin is a convenient and informative system for microbiome studies. First, samples can be readily obtained by non-invasive swabs and scrapes. Second, skin cells undergo a linear program of terminal differentiation resulting in enucleated, cornified cells enabling isolation of microbial nucleic acids with minimal human DNA contamination. Third, both common and rare dermatologic disorders typically manifest at specific skin sub-sites. For example, atopic dermatitis (commonly known as eczema) and psoriasis affect the inner and outer elbow, respectively. Further, skin disorders are frequently associated with multi-faceted microbial infections that are often hard to diagnose and treat.
This study aims to characterize the microbial community resident on the skin and in the nares in healthy individuals. Initial characterization will focus on sequencing 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences for community structure determination and analysis of intra- and inter-personal variation. Twenty distinct sub-sites will be sampled across 10 healthy volunteers by swabbing and scraping. Sequences from each site will be analyzed for microbial diversity, initially using a 16S rRNA survey and later broadening to include fungi, viruses, archaea and mites. In addition, bacteria will be cultured on a wide variety of media and isolates representing both abundant and novel species will be selected for whole genome sequencing.
GQ000001-GQ116391 are ribosomal RNA sequences associated with this project.
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